There are a variety of proposals in the prior art relating to concrete form work and assembly of its components, either manually or with some degree of automation. Various forms of apparatus have been suggested to facilitate the positioning of concrete form panels to accomodate the specialized situation where a mold core is needed to carry out concrete casting of catch basins, burial vaults, septic tanks and the like.
A desired objective to achieve through the use of a mold core assembly is obtaining smooth surfaces as free of joint lines as possible once the form panels and associated components are stripped from the hardened concrete. It is also important that as simple a construction as possible be employed, involving a minimum of components and certainly avoiding the necessity for use of a variety of detachable or detached elements which could easily be subject to being separated or lost from the overall mold core assembly.
Generally, the prior art mold core assemblies have been unable to achieve the above described desirable attributes of providing a unitized apparatus, that is automatically operable while being simple and effective in casting catch basins and the like. Such simple and effective automatic operation necessarily involves both setting up the form panels and related components preliminary to concrete pouring and thereafter stripping of these panels and components from the hardened concrete structure.
A principal object of the instant invention is to provide a mold core assembly utilizing outwardly facing form panels providing external casting faces with the core assembly being effectively automatic both in setting up and in stripping the form panels and other components against which the concrete is cast.
Another significant object of the invention is to provide a unitized mold core assembly which is self contained such that all elements making up the assembly may be automatically manipulated, essentially without independent support for any of the elements of the core assembly.
It is a further object of the instant invention to provide a mold core assembly which is totally automated, simple in construction and easily subject to being hydraulically operated from any suitable hydraulic pressure source.
An additional object of this invention is to provide a mold core assembly embodying outwardly facing form panels, elongate corner members and a lid overlying the ends of the form panels and corner members wherein all of the components making up the core assembly are integrated into a unitary assembly with the corner members being movable inwardly from diametrically opposite corners of the core assembly to collapse the entire assembly and outwardly to expand the entire core assembly into its casting condition.